A low profile socket connector having a shroud and a connector lock in which the enlargement for accommodating the connector lock has been eliminated by incorporating a lock arm in the shroud itself has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,896,524 issued May 24, 2005, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
Referring now to FIGS. 1A through 1C, a low profile socket connector 10 will be described.
The low profile socket connector 10 has a connector body 12 having a terminal housing 14 with internally disposed terminal cavities 16 that extend through a terminal housing 14. Female electric terminals (not shown) attached to lead wires 18a, 18b are inserted into the rearward ends of the terminal cavities 16 and retained in the terminal cavities via terminal seats 16a in a conventional manner. Any suitable female terminals and lead wires may be used for this purpose.
The connector body 12 includes an annular shroud 20 that is integrally connected to a mid-portion of the terminal housing 14 by a perpendicular end wall 22. The shroud 20 and end wall 22 form a socket 24 for receiving a plug connector 60 that has male terminals that mate with the female terminals in terminal housing 14 when the plug connector is plugged into the socket 24. The connector body 12 has a connector lock indicated generally at 26 for retaining the plug connector in the socket 24. The connector lock 26 is incorporated into the shroud 20 of the connector body 12 so as to provide a low profile socket connector as described below.
Connector lock 26 comprises an arm or beam 30 that is formed out of a forward exterior wall portion 32 of the shroud 20 itself and a rearward exterior wall portion 34 of the shroud 20 that extends rearward of end wall 22. An arm 30 is formed by forward and rearward pairs of through-slots 36, 38, wherein the through-slots are symmetrically disposed on either side of the arm 30, and extend through the forward and rearward exterior wall portions 32 and 34. The forward pair of through-slots 36 extend through the forward portion 32 and a forward portion of the rearward portion 34 of the shroud 20, as best shown in FIG. 1A. The rearward pair of through-slots 38 extend through the aft portion of the rearward exterior wall portion 34.
Both pairs of through-slots 36 and 38 have longitudinal parts and transverse parts so that the two-pairs of through-slots 36 and 38 cooperatively form flexible straps 40 that connect arm 30 to the remainder of the exterior wall of the shroud 20, specifically, the rearward exterior wall portion 34.
The forward pair of through-slots 36 are preferably generally U-shaped so that there are second forward transverse parts that provide flexible straps 42 at the front end of the shroud 20. Flexible straps 42 provide a continuous front edge and anti-tangle feature for shroud 20 while allowing the front of arm 30 to bow outwardly to operate the connector lock as explained below. The rearward through slots 38 are generally L-shaped so that the aft end of arm 30 forms a depressible “pump handle” release lever 44 that is free of the extended rearward exterior wall portion 34 of shroud 20.
The arm 30 has a lock nib 46 that is located between the straps 40 and 42 in the longitudinal direction and extends inwardly into the socket 24. The arm 30 also has a triangularly shaped fulcrum 48 that extends inwardly into a space behind the end wall 22 of the socket 24. The triangularly shaped fulcrum 48 slopes outwardly in the rearward direction. The end wall 22 at the inner end of the socket 24 has a window to facilitate molding lock nib 46 and triangularly shaped fulcrum 48 preferably also has a slot aligned with lock nib 46 longitudinally to further facilitate molding lock nib 46.
Connector body 12 has a triangularly shaped fulcrum support 52 that is connected to the end wall 22, which slopes inwardly in the rearward direction. The fulcrum support 52 is located beneath the fulcrum 48 with its high point substantially aligned with the high point of fulcrum 48 to facilitate depression of the release lever 44. The fulcrum support 52 may also have a slot to facilitate molding.
The low profile socket connector 10 mates with a plug connector 60 that includes a forward plug portion 62 that plugs into the socket 24 as shown in FIGS. 1B and 1C. A loose piece peripheral seal 45 is slid over the terminal housing 14 and located within the socket 24 for sealing with respect to the forward plug portion 62.
In operation, due to the flexibility of the lock arm 30 and the straps 40 and 42, the lock nib 46 snaps over a lock shoulder (not shown) of the plug connector 60 when the plug portion 62 of the plug connector 60 is plugged into socket 24. The lock nib 46 thus retains the plug portion 62 of the plug connector 60 in the socket 24. In order to disconnect the plug connector 60, the end of “pump handle” release lever 44 is depressed manually, which causes the fulcrum 48 to engage the fulcrum support 52 and bow the forward portion of lock arm 30 outwardly so that the lock nib 46 is moved out of engagement with the lock shoulder of the plug connector 60. The plug connector 60 is then pulled away from the low profile socket connector 10. Although, lock arm 30 is preferably connected to the remainder of the shroud 20 both at the front end and rearward portion of the shroud 20, the flexibility of lock arm 30 and straps 40 and 42 is sufficient to lift the lock nib 46 out of engagement with the lock shoulder of the plug connector 60.
While the exterior wall 32 of the shroud 20 is illustrated as being generally elliptical, the exterior wall can be another shape, such as round, square or rectangular. In essence, the height or profile of any shape of connector can be reduced to provide a low profile socket connector so long as the exterior wall of the shroud has a lock arm located in a portion of the exterior wall of the shroud itself.
As shown at FIGS. 1B and 1C, the rearward end 64 of the connector body 12 (opposite the socket 24 which is disposed at a forward end of the connector body) has a seal housing 66 having a seal cavity 68 into which a seal 70 is slid along a longitudinal direction (parallel to the wires 18a, 18b). A loose piece strain relief 72 is then snapped onto the seal housing 66 which serves to trap the seal 70 in the seal cavity 68 and further locates the wires 18a, 18b so as to relieve strain induced by movements of the wires exterior to the low profile socket connector 10.
What remains needed in the art is an elimination of the need for a loose parts for the strain relief, cable and peripheral seals for socket connectors.